


Camp Moonrock

by gaySpaceRock_exe (TheElementHero)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Blood?, F/F, Gen, lmao this was longer than expected, oh and a bear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3891319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheElementHero/pseuds/gaySpaceRock_exe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lapis didn't come to camp to make friends. In fact, 'friends' are the farthest thing on her priority list when she's stuck hanging out with a glasses-sporting nerd, an energetic kid named Steven, and three favoured campers known as the 'Crystal Gems'.</p>
<p>(Summer camp AU, Lapis is a tiny ball of rage.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Camp Moonrock

**Author's Note:**

> i thought this was going to a short little oneshot, but noooo. of course my hands had to slip and whoops now you get this whopper of a fic have fun

**Camp Moonrock**  

“Good morning campers! My name is Rose, and I’ll be working as the head counselor this week at Camp Moonrock!”

Lapis shifts in her seat on the bus, only half listening to Rose’s welcome speech. It’s her first time going to camp, and she’s a little bit nervous, a little bit grumpy, and a whole lot unprepared for anything.

The day starts off on schedule well enough: get up, eat breakfast, grab the bags you packed the night before, and get on the bus when it comes to pick you up. Simple. In theory.

When Lapis’s alarm goes off (an hour too late) and she scrambles to get ready because _oh gosh the bus’s gonna be here in ten minutes_ , it’s only then that she realizes that she doesn’t have half the things she needed to pack last night but didn’t.

The battered camp bus rolls up to her door just when she’s struggling to find the third item on the list. And though Lapis protests and tries to stall, Rose just smiles, pats her on the back, and says, “Don’t worry about it.”

Before Lapis knows it she’s crammed into a vehicle amid a whole lot of noisy, hollering teens her age, with nothing but a half-empty suitcase and the orange Rose gave her when she said she hadn’t had breakfast yet.

Honestly, she’s ready to throw herself off the bus.

“...and I hope that you all enjoy your week here! Now let’s get cruising, campers!”

There are a few half-hearted cheers from some of the younger kids, a smattering of applause from the older ones, and loud whooping and roaring from the two girls sprawled out on the seats at the back.

Lapis turns around to glare at the outburst and catches the eye of the one on the right, a short, chubby kid with a wicked grin and long dyed-white hair. White-hair smirks at Lapis and cheers louder, the glint in her eyes saying ‘try-and-stop-me-prissy’.

Rolling her eyes, Lapis sticks her tongue out at her.

When Rose finally gets the two troublemakers to calm down and the bus moving again, Lapis is hugging her knees to her chest and watching the scenery fly by, desperately wishing she’d never agreed to go to camp in the first place.

* * *

 

The piece of paper Rose hands her as she gets off the bus reads ‘Cabin 3’.

Lapis stares at it for a second before looking up at her surroundings: five wooden cabins arranged in a semicircle in front of a unimpressive whitewashed building. The campground itself is surrounded by forests and cliffs as far as the eye can see, save for the road the bus came on and a dinky sign with ‘To Lake’ scrawled on it.

It’s not the best impression.

When Lapis heads over to her designated cabin she watches the kids around her scramble around and laugh, like they’re already having fun. She notices white-hair chattering with two other kids in front of the first cabin: a wiry girl with a beakish nose who looks anxious as heck and a tall black girl with an afro and sunglasses.

_At least she’s not_ my _problem_ , Lapis thinks to herself as she pushes the door to cabin three open and is promptly hit in the face with a pillow.

Sputtering, Lapis drops her bag and manages, “What the heck was that for?!”

The other girl from the back of the bus grins down from on top of one of the bunks and tosses another pillow towards Lapis. “Whaaaat. You looked like you needed a ‘lil fun after the stinkeye ya gave Amethyst on the bus, huh?”

The girl speaks in a lazy drawl, skin two-toned and hair even whiter than the other girl’s, who Lapis now knows as Amethyst.

“I’m fine without _fun,_ thanks.”

“Aw, that’s not true.” Lapis’s bad impression of the girl is made ever worse when she leaps straight from the top bunk to the floor, landing with an impact that makes even the walls of the cabin shake.

The girl gives Lapis a not-so-friendly punch and guffaws, “I’m Jasper. Yer staying with me this week! Ha!”

Lapis is almost knocked forwards at the next slap on the back and manages to growl, “Lapis.”

“Heh, funny name. What, isn’t that a rock?”

“Ha ha.” Lapis tosses her bag on the bottom of the other bunk bed and flops down beside it. Unfortunately, so does Jasper.

“Hey, I heard we’re getting the weirdo,” Jasper chuckles, her wide palms pressing dirt into the sheets of what’s now Lapis’s bed as she leans back. “The one who Rose’s boyfriend has to go pick up tonight because she can’t ‘travel with others’ or some crap. You know her, huh?”

Lapis shakes her head, inching away from her broad-shouldered roommate. “Of course not. I’m a first year, in case you haven’t noticed. Never been here before in my life.”

“Oh, geez. That means you don’t know how this place works, huh?”

“What? This is a summer camp. Of course I know how-”

“No, no! I mean-” Jasper’s voice drops to a whisper and her eyes dart around almost guiltily. “-you know those girls in cabin one, the one Amethyst’s in?”

Lapis nods, unsure where the question is going.

“Well, they call themselves the ‘Crystal Gems’, and they’re kinda at the top of the food chain around here. I think Rose is on their side, if you know what I mean.”

“No. No I don’t.”

Jasper makes a whining noise from the back of her throat and gives Lapis the most intense look she’s ever seen. “Their _side_! They always win every game, every race, every _thing_! Ever since my first year here I never had a chance against those guys!”

“Oooo...kay?”

“You don’t get it?! Friggin’ newbie.” Standing up, Jasper jabs a finger at Lapis’s chest and breathes, “You’re in my cabin, and this year’s the year I finally beat the Crystal Gems!”

Lapis narrows her eyes. Jasper’s already giving off an arrogant, competitive vibe, something she doesn’t like at all. But Jasper’s eyes are wild and fierce and her fists look strong enough to break Lapis in two, so she nods and mutters, “Sure. Whatever floats your boat.”

“Good.” Within seconds Jasper’s smirk is back and she claps Lapis on the shoulder again, calling out, “See you around, roomie!” as she leaves the cabin.

“It’s _Lapis_.”

* * *

 

Dinner is uneventful, except for when a kid named Ruby and another girl from cabin five ‘accidentally’ start an all-out food fight that Lapis is quick to avoid. Ducking out from the picnic tables at the dining area she avoids a plate of spaghetti that spatters against the ground and makes her way towards the signpost.

The sky is dark, stars winking down on Lapis from so many miles away. There are a few clouds and the moon is only a thin sliver, but she still feels that it is the most beautiful night she’s seen since the city.

Beautiful, that is, until Ruby and the other kid with bangs that almost cover her eyes run over and throw two plates of pasta sauce in her face.

After Rose manages to get things to calm down and gets Ruby and Sapphire (as that was, Lapis learned, was her name) to apologize for starting the fight, she rounds up all the kids and sits them down around the firepit.

There were only fourteen campers, Lapis notes as she hugs her knees to her chest and listens to Rose sing songs about comets and space and universes far, far away. But then again, there’s the other kid that Jasper told her about.

Not that one kid makes much of a difference to Lapis. Camp, in her opinion, is still completely awful.

Rose puts down her guitar after the next song and claps her hands together, smiling her cheerful smile. “Now, I know we have a few new campers, so we’re all going to introduce ourselves! After you tell us your name and something about yourself, come up here and I’ll give you some marshmallows, okay?”

There’s some muttering, but no outright objections. The boy sitting on Rose’s left waves his hand eagerly in the air. The enthusiasm radiating off him is almost enough to make Lapis want to gag.

“Hi!” he chirps after Rose gives him the go-ahead. “My name’s Steven, and I like collecting rocks!”

Rose passes him a few marshmallows and a stick and nods to the girl beside Steven. “That’s very interesting!”

“It is!” The girl has round, rose-coloured glasses and a preppy voice that actually makes Lapis gag. “Oh, but first, my name’s Connie. I, uh… Oh! I really like The Spirit Morph Saga!”

“No way!” a girl with long hair and a pointed nose pipes up from the other side of the campfire. “That’s my favourite series!”

“Really?!” Connie’s grin grows even wider. “Which book’s your favourite? I personally think that “Unfamiliar Familiar” is-”

Rose interrupts the two with a chuckle. “Now, now. Connie, Opal, you’ll have plenty of time to discuss this tomorrow. Okay?”

Connie flushes, but her grin remains just as wide. “R-right! Sorry.”

“Yeah, sorry Rose,” Opal agrees, ducking her head.

“That’s alright. Now next we have…?”

And so the name-sharing passes around the campfire. Lapis learns the names of Buck, who wants to be an artist, Sugilite, who likes writing rap music, and Pearl, who says that she’s studying architecture.

Every single one of them sounds boring to Lapis.

After Jasper, beside her, finishes proclaiming how she’s the “best friggin’ athlete this camp’s ever seen”, it’s Lapis’s turn.

“My name’s Lapis,” she begins, completely aware of all the eyes on her. “And uh…”

She could have said she likes surfing, but has never been to the ocean. She could have said that she broke her left arm twice last summer. Heck, she almost said that she works at a pizza place back at home.

But no. Lapis opens her mouth and what comes tumbling out is, “My name’s Lapis, and I hate camp.”

The campfire is remarkably subdued after that.

* * *

 

It’s just after Lapis manages to block out Jasper’s snoring and doze off when the cabin door creaks open and two people try unsuccessfully to whisper as they enter, jolting her awake in the process.

“This is where you’re staying, Peridot.”

“Okay.” As her mind adjusts to wakefulness, Lapis makes out a, “Th-thanks, Mr. Universe.”

“Ah, just call me Greg.”

There’s the sound of boots crunching on gravel and then the door creaking shut, blocking out the starlight that was shining in. Lapis carefully watches as a lone figure fumbles around in the dark, bumping into the other bunk a few times.

Unsurprisingly, Jasper is too busy snoring to hear anything.

“Um,” Lapis whispers, pushing back her covers and dragging herself to her feet. “Do you need help?”

“Wha-!” The new kid flinches enough to make out even in the dark, a bag dropping to the floor with a crash. “U-uh, no! No, I’m good!”

“Well, hurry up. I can’t sleep with all your noise.”

“Sorry, sorry!” There’s more rustling and thumping, and after a minute Lapis realises the noise isn’t going away anytime soon.

“Ugh.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, she moves over and flicks on the lamp, startling the kid whose name is probably Peridot enough to make them trip over their own feet and crash to the floor.

Somehow Jasper is _still_ snoring.

“Wh-what did you do that for?!” Peridot scrambles to pick up herself and her stuff and shoots Lapis a frantic glare. “I-I was fine!”

“Uh huh. Well, now you’re fine _and_ can see.”

There’s a pause, in which Lapis rakes her eyes over her new roommate, taking in her thick glasses and prosthetic legs.

“So…” Lapis waits until Peridot shoves her stuff under her bunk and clambers into bed before switching off the light. “Goodnight.”

“Y-yeah.”

Lapis finds dreamland sooner this time, letting Jasper’s raspy snores and Peridot’s slow, light breathing lull her back to sleep.

* * *

 

The next morning Lapis finds out both of her roommates aren’t morning people, and neither is she. The three of them are barely awake when they stumble down to the tables, taking their seat at the third table, which is still stained with a few tomato spatters here and there.

Jasper grumbles something about it being too early and goes up to get eggs and bacon. Lapis just stares at Peridot, who’s given up on trying to keep her eyes open and is lying facedown on the picnic table.

“You’re going to get splinters on your face,” she comments dryly, though she won’t admit she wants to do the same thing.

Peridot ignores her, keeping her face where it is. Around the two the other campers are milling about, mostly talking or laughing in line for their food. Lapis is about to go up and get some herself when the first boy from last night (Steven, she reminds herself) dashes up to her.

“Hey! You’re Lapis, right?”

Lapis raises an eyebrow. “If by that you mean ‘are you the I-hate-camp girl', then yes, I am.”

“Aw, come on.” Steven shuffles his feet and sticks his lower lip out in a pout. “Don’t be like that. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Ugh.” She almost feels bad for putting that look on his face.

“Oh, I know! We should have special names to help us become friends faster!”

Lapis does a double take, tripping on her own shoelaces as she stumbles into line. “Wh-what?! No, no one said anything about friends!”

Steven’s eyes are so wide she swears there’s something wrong with him as he gasps, “Oh, but you have to make friends! That’s the best part about camp!”

“The best part of camp is the day I get on that bus to go home,” Lapis mutters, dumping scrambled eggs on her plate.

“But- but-!” Steven stutters, grabbing a milk carton and an orange. “But we could be… uh, super bestie camp friends!”

“That sounds like something a children’s cartoon barfed up.”

“Okay, okay. How about just best camp friends?” He shakes his hands dramatically, the milk in his carton sloshing around. “It’s got a nice ring to it!”

“No thanks,” Lapis sighs, taking a seat at her table where Jasper’s scarfing down bacon and Peridot hasn’t moved. However, Steven plops down next to her, much to her distaste, and continues rambling on.

“Oh, oh! Lake bestie buddies! It’s perfect!”

At this Jasper snorts, guffawing through a mouthful of food, “Yeah, pick that, Lapis! ‘Bestie buddies’! Ahahaha!”

“Shut up, Jasper.”

“Aw, c’mon. I’m just poking fun!”

Lapis grits her teeth and shoves a forkful of eggs in her mouth, muttering, “Not funny.”

It’s almost half an hour later when Rose and Greg call the campers to order. Peridot still hasn’t moved since breakfast, and Lapis has to elbow her awake when Rose starts giving the instructions for the day.

“Alright campers! Today is the first day of Camp Moonrock, and you know what that means!”

At the first table Amethyst lets out a loud whoop, only for Pearl to clamp her hand over her friend’s mouth frantically and shoot Rose an apologetic look.

Jasper snickers when Amethyst rolls her eyes.

“Thank you for your enthusiasm Amethyst,” Rose chuckles, covering her laugh with one hand. “Today is going to be every exciting. We’ll start off by splitting the groups into two. I’ll take one, and Greg will take the other. Sound good, everyone?”

There’s a chorus of murmurs and nods, and Rose sets out dividing the campers. Lapis finds herself with Peridot on Greg’s side, watching with distaste as all of the Crystal Gems join them, followed by a reluctant Ruby and a boy Lapis thinks is named Sour Cream.

“Alright!” Rose flashes all the campers a grin and points towards the sign that reads ‘To Lake’. “Go grab your swim stuff, because today’s the water war!”

The words ‘water’ and ‘war’ used in the same sentence grabs Lapis’s attention. Some sort of excitement sparks in her chest, which is quickly snuffed out as she realises Jasper’s on the opposing side.

Peridot lets out a tired, long-suffering groan and mumbles, “I hate water. Gotta change my legs to the dumb waterproof ones, which look freakin’ stupid. I mean, green? Who the heck has _green_ legs?!”

Lapis shrugs. “You, apparently.”

“Very funny, roommate.” Peridot pauses, then wipes her glasses with the fringe of her t-shirt and tilts her head to the side. “Actually, I don’t know your name yet.”

“What, you didn’t get it when Jasper was yammering on at breakfast about Steven’s stupid nicknames?”

“If you hadn’t noticed, I was asleep.”

“Well.” Lapis shrugs and stands up, starting to walk towards their cabin. “I’m Lapis, then.”

“Peridot. But I guess you already knew that.”

The two grab their swim stuff from the cabin and jog back to Greg. Thankfully a swimsuit was one of the three items Lapis managed to pack, the others being a toothbrush and half a bottle of shampoo.

Greg gives his group a once over to make sure they have everything then gives them a goofy smile. “Alright, kiddos! Are you ready to have fun?”

Amethyst and Ruby cheer and begin to sprint off down the path for the lake. Pearl yelps and chases after Amethyst, followed by an exasperated Garnet and bored Sour Cream, leaving Lapis and Peridot to take the rear.

The walk to the lake isn’t very long. Lapis watches her shoes crunch against the gravel on the way, Peridot walking beside her with a disgruntled, albeit more awake look on her face.

"Hey," Peridot finally says after a few minutes, putting her hands behind her head. "How big do you think this forest is?"

"I dunno." Lapis stares out at row after row of emerald green branches and guesses, "Probably at least a thousand acres. Why?"

Peridot narrows her eyes. "Because I just _know_ I'm going to get lost in this stupid place."

"Well, you can't get lost if you don't leave the trail, right?"

"But that's the thing!" Tossing her hands towards the sky, Peridot shouts, "There aren't any trails!"

"Oh. Well that's problematic."

"I swear, when Rose has to send someone out to get me or whatever, I have the complete right to all the 'I-told-you-so's I want."

Lapis smirks. "Sure you do."

The arrive at the lakeshore just in time to make it into the changeroom. It’s a madhouse inside, with Jasper riling up Pearl by stealing her swimsuit and Jenny arguing with Sugilite over some music problem.

Peridot visibly tenses beside Lapis and blurts out, “I’m not swimming!” before dashing back outside and slamming the door behind her.

At the sound of the wooden frame crashing Jasper looks up, distracted enough for Pearl to snatch her suit back.

“Ay!” Heads turn towards Lapis as Jasper calls out, “It’s the camp-hater, huh?”

Suddenly the room is filled with this silent, underlying tension. Even Amethyst, still holding Ruby in a headlock, goes quiet.

Lapis blinks. Once, twice. Then she backs up against the door and fumbles for the handle. “You know, I’m actually not going to-”

“Oh no ya don’t!” Jasper marches over and grabs her wrist, shoving her towards one of the stalls. “You get changed, roomie. And then you’re facing _me_ in the water war!”

“But I don’t want to-”

“Yeah!” Ruby pipes up, ignoring Amethyst’s hold around her neck. “Water war! Water war!”

The room fills with the chant, Lapis desperately trying to free herself from Jasper’s death grip. There’s a cold sweat running down her back even though it’s hot enough to fry an egg on the ground out, and her mouth tastes dryer than sandpaper.

One hundred and twenty agonizing seconds later she’s in her swimsuit, clutching a water gun to her chest and trying to blend in with the wall. Ruby and Sapphire are having none of that, however, and drag her outside where the two teams are waiting, Sapphire whispering, “You’re going to need more than luck,” in her ear.

Peridot’s sitting in swim trunks and her t-shirt by the door, shooting Lapis a confused look as she’s dragged outside.

_Help me_ , Lapis mouths, her heels digging trails in the gravel to the lake.

Unfortunately, Peridot just shoots her a thumbs up and grins.

“Alright campers!” Greg and Rose are already in the lake, both of them holding water guns of their own. The campers already have weapons from the plastic bucket dumped on the lakebed, armed and ready to go.

Rose pumps the trigger on her gun and blasts Greg in the face, yelling, “Water waaaaar!”

In seconds it’s chaos.

Lapis yelps as she’s shoved into the water by probably Jasper, sputtering as she comes up for air and is immediately sprayed by Connie and Opal. She tries to pump her gun and tread water at the same time, but all around her the water is a splashing, bubbling whirlpool filled with people and it’s impossible to do anything.

“Hey!” Peridot’s leaning over the edge of the low cliff now, water balloons in her hands and a frantic look on her face. “Watch out for Jasper!”

“What?!”

Suddenly she’s dunked underwater by a massive hand, coughing up air as she frantically tries to break free. But Jasper’s grip on her head is heavy, and Lapis is almost out of air when the pressure lifts and she gasps above the surface just in time to see a water balloon hit her attacker in the face.

Peridot grins at Lapis before chucking a balloon at Buck. “You’re welcome!”

Lapis coughs again, panic receding but still present. Jasper’s farther away and spraying Jenny, who’s shrieking and laughing at the same time.

_I almost drowned_ , Lapis thinks to herself in shock, which is quickly followed by _wait is that Pearl_ and _where’s Garnet and Ame-_

Two bursts of water gush from behind her and nail her in the shoulders, Amethyst’s high pitched cackle audible over the chaos everywhere else. Lapis whips around and pulls the trigger of her gun, yelling, “We’re on the same team, idiots!”

“Aren’t any teams in water war,” Garnet replies calmly before she blasts Lapis in the face.

* * *

 

It’s lunchtime when they finally get out of the water, at least half of them sunburnt (especially Greg) and all of them soaking wet. Even Peridot is drenched from Jasper taking her revenge, shirt and shorts soaked clean through.

Rose says she’s heading back to start lunch, leaving Greg in charge. The boys get the changeroom first, and while Lapis is waiting she spots Jasper’s poofy mane of hair near the forest and walks up to her.

“You tried to drown me.” It’s not stated as a question.

Jasper rolls her shoulders and turns around, shrugging. “Didn’t really. Just a little payback for you saying you hate this place.”

“I could have died!”

“No you wouldn’t have. You were fine!” Jasper punches Lapis on the shoulder again and chuckles, “Stop being so uptight, ya know?”

“No, I _don’t_ ,” Lapis growls, shoving Jasper’s hand to the side and stalking back to the changeroom. The boys are just finishing, and as Lapis grabs a towel and moves to head in Steven waves a hand at her.

“Hey!” he shouts, sandals skidding to a stop. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Sure,” she grumbles, one hand on the doorknob.

“Aw, of course it was! And hey, I thought of another name! What about summer camp buddies? Huh?”

Lapis shakes her head. “I told you, I’m not here to make friends.”

“But-!”

He’s cut off by the rest of the girls running to get change, Lapis allowing herself to be swept up into the changeroom and away from Steven. Sighing, she moves towards the farthest stall and shuts the door, flipping the light on.

She can see herself in the mirror on the back of the door: blank, tired eyes with killer bags, sopping black hair starting to dry in wayward spikes, dark brown skin with untamed hair along her arms and legs. Lapis turns away when she peels off her swimsuit, knowing that if she looks she’ll see the scars up and down her torso.

So she doesn’t.

She’s just pulling on her t-shirt when there’s a thud outside the door, followed by familiar cackling. Lapis grits her teeth as Pearl reprimands Amethyst, catching a “-and don’t roughhouse in the changeroom!”

Then she hears Jasper’s low voice rasp, “Hey, I think you busted it.”

_Busted what?_ Lapis frowns, tugging on her shorts.

“Nah, man, it’s totally good.” Amethyst’s voice is muffled through the door as she gives it a kick, the mirror shaking as she does.

Lapis backs up, worried.

“Don’t do that,” she hears Garnet say as the door shudders again. “There might be someone in there.”

“There probably isn’t. I mean-” The door jerks again, one of the corners of the mirror ripping free from the top. “-if there was, they would’ve spoken up by now. Right, changeroom?”

Lapis tries to respond, tries to get her voice to work, but with the next kick the mirror is falling towards her, and the last thing she sees is her own terrified eyes before if smashes against her into a million pieces.

The lights go out.

“Crap!” Amethyst yells, and suddenly her voice is fainter. “Let’s just get out of here!”

“No, wait-!” This time it’s Pearl fading away, and there’s two sets of footsteps leaving the building and the sound of the door slamming.

Weakly, Lapis drags herself up in time to hear Jasper chuckle, a grating laugh that sends chills running down her spine.

“Have a good night, Lapis.”

The door slams. The walls shake. Lapis feels something warm and wet trickle down her forehead from where the mirror hit her and feebly tries to wipe it away, head spinning.

The light switch doesn’t work. The doorknob won’t turn.

“I’m stuck,” Lapis whispers, and she can hear her own voice break and waver. “I’m stuck and I’m hurt and everyone else has already left and-”

The room lurches, and Lapis blinks rapidly, trying to keep her eyes open, but it’s dark and she can’t tell if she’s awake anymore. She feels the broken fragments of the mirror dig into her shorts as she crumples against the wall, the blood sliding down her forehead running off her cheeks and dripping onto her shirt.

Everything is hazy as she passes out, the darkness spinning and warping.

She wonders if anyone will miss her.

* * *

 

“...h...ey l...is are y...in...re…”

Lapis blinks. Her body feels stiff and cold, her face and shirt sticky. She tries to move her arm to wipe at her face, but the pain from the mirror shards digging into her skin is too much and she lets her limbs fall limp again.

“...apis!”

There’s the sound again. Lapis doesn’t know what it is, or how much time had passed, but her stomach feels like it’s trying to eat itself, her neck is sore from leaning against the wall, and she really has to go to the washroom, so it’s probably been a while.

“Lapis! Are you in here?!”

It’s the voice. She manages to rasp out, “...Yeah,” and when they don’t respond she tries a little louder, “Yeah. I am.”

“Oh!” There’s shuffling, and then a light flicks on through the gap under the door, lighting up the tiny room. Lapis squints at the sudden brightness, turning her head just enough to make out the person lying on the ground outside.

“...Steven?”

“Lapis!” His eyes are wide and scared, and he cries, “I’m gonna get you out, okay?!”

“O...Okay.” She blinks again, and says, “What happened?”

Steven leaves the light pointed through the gap but stands up to jiggle the doorknob, explaining quickly, “You didn’t come back yesterday, but everyone assumed you were just resting in your cabin after the water war ‘cause Jasper said you were in there.” He kicks the door and continues, “But when you weren’t at breakfast Rose got really worried and went out looking for you! And then at lunch she postponed the flag hunt and we all started trying to find where you were... I was _really_ worried, Lapis!”

Lapis lets out a grunt that could have been laughter and mumbles, “Thank you, Steven. For worrying.”

“No prob, Bob!”

She doesn’t bother to correct him.

Steven fiddles around with the door for a few minutes before lying down to peer through the crack again, dejectedly saying, “The lock’s busted. I don’t think I can open it.”

“That… that’s fine.” Lapis swallows, her throat dry. Feeling her stomach gurgle, she asks, “Hey… I’m really hungry, and...”

“Oh, right!” Steven’s eye disappears and she hears him rummaging around before something is shoved through the crack under the door. It barely fits, but Lapis manages to reach over and yank it free.

“Sorry if its a little squished. It was in my pocket, but it’s still good!”

Lapis peels back the wrapper on the slightly squished granola bar and bites off the top. “Yeah, it’s good.” To her, after a day without food, it tastes like ambrosia from the gods.

Steven appears at the crack again, and peers in, his voice shaking as he says, “Lapis, you don’t look so good.”

“Well, considering a mirror fell on me-”

“A _mirror_?!”

“Well, yeah, the one from the back of the door. I’ve probably got a nasty cut on my forehead or something, and there’s glass stuff everywhere.” Lapis pops the rest of the bar in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “Actually, I think that’s what made me pass out.”

“You passed _out_?!” Steven’s frantic now, voice high pitched and scared. “Lapis, you’re hurt! Please don’t tell me you’ve got any of the shards in your skin!”

Lapis stares at the points sticking out of her arm, then at her reflection on one of the larger fragments and replies, “Uh, nope. No shards.”

Steven’s silent. Then he says quietly, “Lapis, you need to get to Rose. I’ll be right back-”

“No!” Her voice is louder this time, and she manages, “Don’t leave me alone! Not… not yet.”

He stops, and in a concerned tone says, “But you’re hurt. It could get worse if the glass isn’t taken out.”

So he saw right through her, then. Lapis sighs and shifts into a more comfortable position, mumbling, “Just talk to me for a bit. Okay?”

Steven blinks. “O-okay.”

The boy goes on to talk about himself and the camp, that it’s his first year here and he really wants to make it perfect. He talks about how Rose used to be his old babysitter, and how she recommended Camp Moonrock after she got the job. He also goes on about Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl, and about how he knows them from out of camp and the things they do together in their spare times.

Lapis feels her mood darken at the mention of those three and mutters, “Don’t talk about them like that.”

Steven pauses in the middle of talking about the time he met Connie. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“The Crystal Gems. Stop treating them like they’re so great and perfect when they’re _not_.”

“But they’re my friends…” He stops again, and asks, “What do you have against them?”

Lapis grunts again, and this time it’s bitter instead of humorous. “Nothing. Well, except for the fact it was _them_ who locked me in here in the first place!”

“What?!” Steven’s voice jumps an octave as he yelps, “They wouldn’t do that! Garnet and Pearl and Amethyst are really nice!” He pauses, and mumbles, “Okay, Amethyst tries her best, but… still! They’re not mean people!”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Lapis sighs, tilting her head towards the ceiling.

“It must have been a mistake,” Steven says eventually, after a minute of silence. “I’m sure if you talk to them you can sort everything out.”

This time Lapis actually manages a weak laugh, and mutters, “Sure. Whatever.” She reaches up to feel the side of her face, the blood having dried long ago, and says, “Let’s just move on to the next topic.”

“No, wait.” Steven shifts around outside until Lapis can’t see him anymore, and he says in a slightly muffled tone, “This time _you_ talk to _me_.”

“What? But I don’t have anything to-”

“Just talk about yourself. It’ll be fine!”

So Lapis closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and begins to speak.

She tells Steven about how she’s worked at a pizza place for almost a year now, and how she knows all of the regulars by name. She tells him how she broke her arm twice last summer (once falling out of a tree and once landing the wrong way after a skateboard accident), and how she more than ever wants to go to a beach and see the ocean one day.

Steven perks up when she mentions the beach, and as she tells him about getting her first surfboard she can almost hear the wheels in his head turning.

Finally, he says, “I thought of a name for us.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mmhm.” Steven’s voice comes from higher up as he stands, saying, “It’s really perfect.”

Lapis blinks. “Let’s hear it, then.”

He laughs. “How about you guess? And keep guessing and talking, and don’t stop. Okay?”

“What are you-”

“First guess!” he yells, and now his voice is coming from far, far away.

“Wait, Steven! Don’t go, don’t leave me alone here-!” Lapis struggles to stand and winces as the glass in her legs burns and stings, forcing her back down. “You can’t!”

“Come on, Lapis! First one!”

She scrunches her eyes shut tight, and manages a weak, “Camp friends?”

“Aw, that’s lame! Think bigger. Better! And don’t you dare stop guessing, okay?”

Lapis hears his footsteps crunch against the gravel outside, but pretends he hasn’t left, calling out, “Summer camp buddies! Or, uh, best summer lake friends!”

She continues to talk until the room spins again, and the next thing she knows there’s the crash of the door hitting the floor and two warm, strong arms cradling her against their chest and carrying her back to camp.

* * *

 

It’s the sting of alcohol against her arms that wakes Lapis, jolting her back to reality in an instant. She hisses, but Rose holds her arm steady until the bandage is wrapped all the way around, the fragment of the mirror that was embedded in her skin joining the pile of glass on the floor.

“All better!” Rose says, patting Lapis’s hand. “I’m glad we found you, even if it did take a while.”

“S-sorry,” Lapis manages, pulling her sheets close to her chest.

“No, no. Don’t worry about it.” She smiles, and continues, “It’s my job to look after my campers, alright?”

“Yeah. Um, thanks.”

Rose smiles, and stands to leave. “Don’t worry about it! Now, you should get some rest tonight, and I’ll check on you tomorrow.” She turns to the side and adds, “Steven, we should leave Lapis alone now.”

It’s only then that Lapis notices Steven curled up on a pillow beside the bed, dark curls spread out across the pillow in a halo. Laughing quietly as he mumbles “Five more minutes…”, Rose picks up his small frame in her arms and heads to the door of the cabin.

“Peridot and Jasper will be heading back here as soon as the campfire’s finished, but I’d imagine you’re tired from the last day or so. Do you want me to have them stay at the main building tonight?”

“No,” Lapis says, running a hand through her hair and noticing it’s been brushed out and there’s a strip of gauze wrapped around her crown. “I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then. Take care.” Rose shuts the door as she leaves, sandals crunching on the gravel as she walks away.

Lapis stares at the door for a second before switching off the light and curling back under the covers with her thoughts.

She’s safe, then. Breathing in the scent of clean bedsheets and dry clothes everything that happened seems like a far-away dream.

Then she remembers who trapped her in that room in the first place and her mouth twists into a frown.

_Jasper and the Crystal Gems,_ she thinks, mentally painting an image of them trapped in her place, with the key to the lock in her hand. _They are going to_ pay _for what they did._

Lapis falls asleep with her pillow clenched tight against her chest and thoughts of vengeance filling her head with dreams of the future.

* * *

 

The next day she’s woken by Jasper loudly declaring she’s leaving and the cabin door slamming. Lapis drags herself awake in time to see Peridot pulling on a t-shirt, and groggily asks, “What time is it?”

“Ack!” Peridot fumbles, glasses slipping out of her hands, and she stutters, “S-seven. But Rose says you don’t have to get up today! A-and Greg’s staying at the camp when we go out into the forest, so if you need anything you can ask him!”

“You’re going to the woods?”

“Yeah.” Peridot’s lip juts out in a pout and she mutters, “I _know_ I’m going to get lost or something.”

“Lost? Shouldn’t you be more worried about the bears?” Lapis chuckles, though laughing makes her head hurt.

“B-bears?! No way, getting lost is way worse!”

“Really now?”

“Yeah! You could die of starvation or dehydration, or could fall off a cliff and be immobilized with pain until death comes to pick you off, or you could lose your legs in mud and have to crawl around for the rest of your life, or-”

Lapis smirks and rolls onto her back, yawning. “Yeah, real dangerous. I think I’ll sit this one out.”

“Wish I could,” Peridot mutters, grabbing her insect repellant on her way to the door.

“Well, best of luck,” Lapis calls, raising her voice slightly. “And don’t get lost!”

The door slamming is Peridot’s reply, and Lapis can hear her stomping away and muttering curse words under her breath.

What a time to be alive.

For the rest of the day Lapis doesn’t do much beside sleep, although she does get up sometime after noon to go through Jasper’s stuff. All she finds is a few sports magazines and balled-up clothes stuffed in the back of her roommate’s suitcase, and a dead iPod under her mattress even though there aren’t supposed to be any electronics at camp.

Lapis takes the iPod and briefly considers dropping it in the outhouse before reluctantly sliding it back under the sheets and returning to her bed.

Greg brings her lunch (or was it dinner?) the next time she wakes up, placing the tray beside her bed before saying, “I’m glad you’re okay, kiddo.”

“Yeah,” she manages, forcing a grin. “Me too.”

The bandages on her arms and legs burn as she lies through her teeth.

The truth is that Lapis wishes everything didn’t turn out the way it did. If she had been left alone a little longer and had time take its toll on her, Jasper and the Crystal Gems would have had to face the consequences.

It’s a sick train of thought, but for some reason Lapis can’t make it go away.

When she wakes up it’s dark out and she can hear the other campers talking and laughing outside, either at dinner or around the campfire. Dragging herself out of bed Lapis peeks out the window to see the later is true; the warm orange flames dance patterns of smoke into the sky and cast flickering lights along the sides of the cabins.

As she stares Lapis trails her gaze over the campers, heart skipping a beat when her eyes meet Pearl’s directly. She whips the curtain closed and hopes that Pearl will think nothing of it, but half an hour later when Rose is done singing there’s a knock on the door and a faint, “Lapis, may I come in?”

So polite it hurts. Lapis has no choice but to force out, “Fine.”

Pearl pushes the door open and steps in, arms clutched around herself as if to protect her. They wait in silence for a minute before Lapis mutters, "Go on."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, go _on_. You're here for a reason, right? So spit it out already!"

The other girl flinches, and her voice wavers as she says softly, "Lapis, I'm very sorry about what happened. We thought the changeroom was empty, and-"

"Oh, that makes me feel _so_ friggin' better, huh?!"

Pearl refuses to meet Lapis's glare as she continues, "We had no idea you were in there. It was thoughtless to be fooling around with camp property with the thought of how it could affect others, and, on behalf of the Crystal Gems, I apologize."

"Mmhm."

Another pause. Lapis gives Pearl a once over, anger still threatening to burst out of her chest. Pearl is so _robotic_ , so precise in how she speaks, and it's that kind of falseness that rubs Lapis the wrong way.

Eventually, she hisses, "Just get out of my cabin. And tell your friends that I don't want anything to do with them _and_ you ever again!"

"But-!" Pearl stops when her voice breaks and composes herself, adding in a more professional tone, "Lapis, isn't that a bit harsh? Amethyst didn't mean it, and Garnet and I were hardly involved! I-I mean, if you look at the situation logically-"

"I don't think you get the point." Lapis shoves the sheets off herself and stands up as best she can, enjoying the reaction of worry she gets from Pearl when she sees her wounded legs. "You, Jasper, Amethyst, Garnet - you're all fake. Just like this whole 'Crystal Gem' crap! Pretending that you're better than everyone else when you're just as bad as _me_!"

Pearl stares, shocked. Then without another word she turns and slips out the door, hinges creaking and rattling as she closes it behind her louder than she usually does.

Lapis's breath comes short and fast after her outburst, the pressure in her chest still refusing to leave. Frustrated, she throws herself back on the bed and lets out a strangled groan, her voice hoarse and high-pitched.

Everything seems to hurt more that night, with the faces of the Crystal Gems mingling in with nightmares of the past.

* * *

 

The next day is dreary, dark, and foggy. It suits Lapis’s mood perfectly, because she’s definitely not feeling Steven’s whole ‘sunshine and happiness’ vibe.

He protests at breakfast, and says, “You need to turn that frown upside down!”

Lapis scowls harder at her toast.

Today they’re having a scavenger hunt in the forest, much to Peridot’s displeasure. The campers are allowed to form groups of two, and the moment partners are mentioned Lapis immediately grabs Peridot before Jasper can look her way.

She does _not_ want to be around her roommate right now.

At the end of the sorting it’s Steven who’s left without a partner, and Rose allows him to join a group of his choosing. Of course, he picks Lapis.

What a surprise.

Greg stops her before she can head out, asking, “Are you sure you’re okay? We don’t want you pushing yourself.”

“I’m fine.” Lapis shrugs his hand away and continues walking down the path. “I’ve handled worse.”

“What do you mean by that?” It’s Steven now, ever curious.

“It’s… It’s nothing. Let’s just find whatever crap we have to and get this over with.”

Peridot has the list, and she reads out the first three items: “Oak leaf, caterpillar, and…” She squints at the paper, then twists her face into a disgusted expression as she says, “And a _mud pie_.”

“Oh man!” Steven does a happy wiggle and shouts, “This is gonna be great!”

“Depends on what your definition of great is,” Lapis mutters, kicking a rock off the path and into the underbrush.

There’s a thud, and then a high pitched yelp, followed by an extremely loud, “What the heck?!”

Lapis raises an eyebrow, then peers off the path and down into the gorge to see Jasper and Amethyst, the former rubbing her hair and the latter laughing her head off.

“There you two are!” Now it’s Pearl speaking, who’s frantically trying to push her way through the shrubbery. “You shouldn’t run off like that!”

“Pfft. It’s not a big deal.” Amethyst blows a raspberry and continues, “Besides, it’s groups of two. I thought you were with Garnet or something. You know, having _alone time_.”

Pearl squawks at the eyebrow wiggle and bops Amethyst on the head, blushing furiously. “W-what a thing to say! Amethyst, Garnet’s just-”

“What am I just?”

Garnet raises one eyebrow and crosses her arms as she finally arrives, smirking slightly. Her ever-present shades obscure her eyes, but it’s fairly obvious to Lapis that she’s amused.

“N-nothing! Amethyst’s just being a tad immature, like usual! Ah ha ha!”

“Mhmm?”

Jasper rolls her eyes as Pearl sputters and flails for something to say, and growls, “Hey, nerds. Let’s see what’s over there.”

She points farther off the path to where the trees are growing closer together and there are brambles wrapped along the trunks and roots. The fog obscures the rest of the forest part of the way in, and in the near-silence the buzzing of insects is almost ominous.

Pearl draws her eyebrows together and stamps her foot. “No. Absolutely not. You know campers aren’t supposed to leave the path! Why, we’re pushing the limits as it is!”

“Aw, come on!” Amethyst pouts, then turns to Garnet with eager eyes. “Whaddya say, G-squad?”

Garnet’s silent. Finally she tilts her head and in a calm, even voice, says, “Sure.”

Lapis almost laughs at the face Pearl makes. Almost.

“B-but! _Garnet_!”

“It’ll be fine, Pearl.” Garnet strides forwards and gives one of the trees a good slap. “Besides. We could use a little more adventure.”

“But!” Pearl’s almost whining now, wringing her hands nervously.

Amethyst elbows her friend roughly and chuckles before dashing off, “Hey, we’re the Crystal Gems! We can handle whatever the forest throws at us.”

“Don’t lump me in with you three,” Jasper barks, shoving her way through the brambles and farther off the path. “But if anyone’s can handle the dangerous stuff, it’s _me_.”

Pearl watches in abject horror as her companions begin to set off deeper into the woods, only snapping out of her trance as she realizes she’s being left behind. With a strangled, “Wait for me!” she’s off, desperately trying to catch up.

Lapis stares after the Crystal Gems, then back at Peridot and Steven, who have found a caterpillar and are busy trying to coax it along Steven’s arm.

Taking a step down the face of the shelf, Lapis calls out, “Hey! Let’s follow them.”

Peridot blanches and almost drops the list. “W-what?! No! We’re not going off the path, because if we go off the path we’ll _get lost_.”

At this, however, Steven perks up. “Wait. You mean like an adventure?”

“If that’s what you want to call it, yeah.” She gives the ground an experimental touch before jumping down, staring back up at her partners. “Come on. I can’t go my myself.”

“Count me in!” Steven dashes over and leaps beside Lapis, the caterpillar that was crawling up his forearm flying off into the air. “Oh. Uh, oops.”

“W-wait!” Peridot’s frantic now, glasses slightly askew. “You can’t just leave me here!”

“Then come with us!” Steven scrambles back up and begins to push Peridot towards the ledge, grinning. “It’ll be fun!”

“No! No no no! I’m not going into the woods with you two or anyone- agh!”

Peridot’s sneakers hit the edge and she topples forwards, managing to grab onto Lapis’s shoulder before she does a faceplant. Glaring at Steven, she wrenches herself upwards and crosses her arms angrily.

Lapis suppresses a smirk at her companions and waves a hand. “Let’s get going before they get too far ahead.”

The three set off after much more protesting from Peridot and much more pleading from Steven Throughout the debate Lapis stays silent, because whether or not Peridot comes is no concern of hers. All she wants is to continue chasing after the Crystal Gems.

She knows that no matter how much she tries to forgive and forget, the anger will keep simmering and boiling until she has no choice but to give in to it and let her fury out.

Lapis knows that if she pretends everything’s okay her walls are going to break.

Just like they did before.

* * *

 

She was eight the first time. A boy from her class took some of her crayons, holding them high above her head and laughing as she tried to reach them, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.

_You’re so tiny, Lapis. Like a baby!_

Something broke when he said that, words stabbing at her tiny frame like arrows. For a second everything went red, and when Lapis finally regained control of her body the boy was lying screaming on the floor and clutching his bloody nose.

Her crayons snapped when she clenched her fist.

The second time she was eleven, and known for her anger. No one wanted to be around Lapis, the _problem child_.

No one except the bullies, who caught her because she was too slow and too small and too different.

_Friggin’ hippie! What’s with the hair, huh?_

Her vision went red again after one too many beatings, and she managed send one girl to the hospital with a concussion and injure the rest.

She had to move schools after that. Even the teachers weren’t sad to see her go.

Lapis didn’t care. She wasn’t going to miss them, either.

The next time her anger took over completely was the worst out of all of them. She woke up only to see fire and smoke and blood, to feel the twisted wreck of the smashed car digging into her back. There were screams and sirens and a sick, burning pain in her body, and before Lapis could wonder what had happened the door was torn off its hinges and she was being pulled to safety.

Bits and pieces came back to her as the paramedics strapped her down onto a stretcher: her father talking about her grades as he drove, raised voices, the feeling of the steering wheel against her palms as she wrenched it to the side and into the path of an oncoming truck.

She was only fourteen when she lost her father.

By the time she was fifteen her mother had packed up and left, leaving Lapis to her never-present grandparents and deep, deep resentment.

When the flyer for Camp Moonrock came around at her school, advertised by a large, beaming young woman with a mountain of hair, Lapis grudgingly agreed to sign up.

At the time she thought she wasn’t going to regret it.

* * *

 

“Hey, I can see Garnet!” Steven almost leaps out of the bush they’re hiding in, with Lapis’s grip of the back of his shirt the only thing holding him back.

“Remember what I said?” she hisses, shoving him back down.

He sighs and taps his fingers together. “That this isn’t for fun?”

“Yes! Now shush.”

Peridot grumbles under her breath and draws a squiggle in the dirt. “This is a waste of my time.”

“If you’re so opposed to this, then by all means leave.” Lapis gestures vaguely in the direction they came from and adds, “You might need a map or five.”

Scowling, Peridot turns away and stabs the ground with her hand.

Lapis looks back towards the Crystal Gems in time to see Amethyst nail Pearl with a mud pie. Pearl instantly goes into panic mode and starts chasing her cackling friend, shouting something along the lines of, “That was _completely_ uncalled for!”

Steven snickers, but remains seated. Narrowing her eyes, Lapis continues to watch the scene unfold, her hands balled into fists under the pockets of her sweatshirt.

“Amethyst, stop messing around.” Garnet is the voice of reason, one hand on Amethyst’s shoulder and the other stopping Pearl from strangling the white-haired girl to death.

“Ugh, fine.” The almost-strangulation victim crosses her arms and scowls at no one in particular. “Hey, Jasper! You done with your ‘experiment’ or what?”

Jasper straightens up from the edge she was standing on and smirks. “Yeah, yeah. Come check this out.”

Lapis can’t tell what they’re doing from her vantage point, but there’s the sound of a branch cracking followed by the splash of a stone hitting water.

“Peridot, did you see a river on one of your maps?” Lapis whispers, eyes still glued to the Crystal Gems.

“Of course,” Peridot sniffs, adjusting her glasses. “It runs over a set of rapids before hitting the lake. It’s probably beside the set of cliffs over there or at least somewhere close, judging from the sound the rock made.”

“Good.”

Steven frowns as Lapis continues to glare at the other campers. “Lapis, what are you planning?”

“Nothing, Steven. I’m just watching for now.”

“But… You look so angry.”

“I’m not angry!” she snaps, whipping her head around. “I’m just-”

Too late she realises how loud her outburst was. There’s a shout, and in an instant Jasper is by her side and leering in her face, one hand grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the bush.

“Aw, what’cha got here, roomie? Spying with your _friends_?”

“They’re not my friends!” Lapis retorts, slapping Jasper’s wrist away. She hears Steven’s pained gasp but ignores it, continuing, “And my name’s Lapis, not _roomie_.”

“It’s just a nickname.” Jasper drags her over to the edge of the cliff where the Crystal Gems are and smirks. “Look at the little birdie who followed us!”

Pearl puts a hand over her mouth. “Jasper, put her down! You could aggravate her injuries, or-”

“Aw, no way! This birdie just needs some roughing up before she can fly the coop.” There’s a sharp twist of her wrist and before she can react Lapis finds herself face down on the forest floor, arm pinned to her back by none other than Jasper.

“Hey!” It’s Amethyst now, though her voice sounds distant underneath the heartbeat pounding in Lapis’s ears. “What the heck are you doing?!”

“C’mon, Ame. She can take this!”

Her vision goes dark as Jasper yanks her to her feet, clamping one massive hand over her jaw and drawing her face close. She can barely feel her left hand, and her vision is swimming circles around Jasper’s leering face.

Just as the red starts to eat away at the sides of her gaze, there’s a thud, and the pressure on her wrist releases, dropping her back to the ground.

Lapis regains her vision in time to see Jasper punch Steven clear across the ground.

There’s a strangled cry from Pearl, and Amethyst’s screaming, but Lapis doesn’t hear any of it. Her heartbeat is pounding in her ears, loud and fast as she sees Steven cup his hand over his nose.

A trickle of blood runs through his fingers.

Suddenly the world is spinning and tipping and Lapis can feel herself scream, “Don’t you dare!” before her fist meets the hardened bone of Jasper’s jaw.

There’s silence. Then Jasper begins to laugh.

“Oh, is the birdie awake now?” She rubs the place Lapis punched her and smirks, expression daring the Crystal Gems to interfere. “Are you going to fight, little bird?”

Lapis clenches her fists and lets her anger free, red rushing through her vision until all she can see is Jasper’s arrogant smirk.

“No,” she whispers, before raising her voice to add, “This bird is going to _fly_!”

Jasper skids backwards as Lapis tackles her, and before the others can react they’re tumbling off the edge of the cliff towards the churning river, Lapis keeping hold of Jasper and her screams the whole way down.

They hit the water hard. Jasper takes most of the fall, but they still crash to the bottom, currents and foam filling Lapis’s vision. Sputtering, she raises her head above the surface to take one last gasp of air before yanking herself and Jasper back down, ignoring the other girl’s howls and flailing. The river drags them along faster than they can swim, scraping them past rocks and through tree branches and over the riverbanks.

Jasper makes a grab for the shore, but Lapis yanks her hand back, spitting, “If we’re going down, we’re going down _together_!”

“No, Lapis! I can’t breathe, l can’t-!”

Water washes over them again, hard and unyielding. The next time Lapis comes up Jasper is limp in her arms and the current is dragging her away from the shore and back into the churning depths.

_I don’t regret this_ , Lapis manages to think before she’s pulled under again, the weight of Jasper’s unconscious body making it impossible to swim against the pull. _I don’t want to regret anything ever again_.

* * *

 

It’s warm.

There’s something soft under her body and something pressing on her chest. There are voices, but they’re faint, as if coming from the end of a tunnel. Her heartbeat is slow now. It’s rhythmic and measured and far apart, making her almost want to drop off to sleep.

There’s another faint voice, this time louder. The pressing on her chest forces her to convulse, and something dribbles down the side of her mouth as she coughs, pain and fear and a burning in her chest dragging her back to reality in an instant.

“Lapis!”

The first thing Lapis sees is Peridot’s tear-streaked face mere inches from her own before Steven drags her into a sitting position for a bone-crushing hug.

“Ack-! S-Steven, I can’t breathe-!”

“Oh, right! Sorry, sorry. But Lapis!” When he lets go his eyes are watery and fearful, though the blood from his has nose long since dried. “You almost died again!”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty common occurrence,” she says dryly, sweeping her gaze over her surroundings.

She’s lying on top of what looks to be Amethyst’s hoodie and Pearl’s jacket, the layers of cloth protecting her from the cold of the ground. Her own clothes are cold and soaking wet against her skin, though, and she can feel her hair sticking up in every direction.

The river’s rushing only a few feet away, and down the bank she can make out Jasper lying prone, Garnet and Amethyst kneeling beside her as Pearl frantically tries to administer CPR.

Lapis feels a chill run down her back as she realizes what she did. She watches almost fearfully as Pearl tries to revive Jasper, relief flooding through her chest when she hears sputtering and coughing, and then Pearl’s overjoyed shout.

“You doing okay?” It’s Peridot now. Her face is pale and her hair is slick with sweat, glasses askew.

“I-I…” Lapis pauses, then touches one hand to her lips. “What happened? How did I…?”

“How did you survive?”

“Yeah.”

Peridot bites her lip before saying, “It was all the Crystal Gems who saved you two. Garnet kinda yelled at Pearl and Amethyst to run down to where the river flattened out and then she just dove after you.”

“Wait, what?!” It’s only now that Lapis notices Garnet’s just as soaked as she is, albeit with slightly neater hair.

“Yup. It was actually terrifying, being stranded on a cliff with an injured person.” She elbows Steven before continuing, “But I got him and myself down to the bank in time for Amethyst and Pearl to drag you out of the water. Jasper was already out of it, but you were almost breathing, so I kinda-” Peridot stops herself and covers her face with her hands.

Lapis stares, feeling her own ears grow hot. “Wait, _you’re_ the one who gave me mouth-to-mouth?!”

“W-well what else did you want?!” Peridot almost knocks her glasses off as she protests, “Pearl and I are the only ones who know how to do it, and she was too busy trying to get Jasper up!”

“Geez, okay!” Lapis scratches her head, only now realizing how much her body hurts. “Just... I dunno, didn’t expect my first kiss to go to someone as nerdy as you.”

“W-wh-what?!”

Lapis pretends to be joking around as Peridot sputters and Steven laughs, but her gaze keeps drifting over to where Jasper is still lying on the ground. The resentment still burns in her chest, but not as strongly, and especially not towards the Crystal Gems.

_They just saved me. Huh. Didn’t really expect that_.

Groaning, Lapis drags herself to her feet and steps over towards the others. She’s got scrapes over her arms and legs, and her wounds from the before have opened again, but she ignores them as she squats beside the person she just tried to drown.

Jasper cracks an eye open when Lapis clears her throat and grunts, “What do you want?”

There are so many things Lapis could have said. Should have said, maybe. That she didn’t mean it, or that they both deserved it, or that she wishes she hadn’t made it out.

That she still hates Jasper with all of her might.

Instead, she says, “We’re even.”

“W...what?”

“You know. The water war. When you tried to drown me then.”

“Is that what this’s about?!”

“No. Also partly for the whole changeroom thing.” Lapis narrows her eyes, and adds, “That was just cruel, you know.”

“Y...yeah. I know.”

“But we’re even now. Just lay off me and my friends, or I’ll _make_ you lay off.”

Jasper stares for a second before managing a weak chuckle. “That’s a nice attitude you’ve got there, roo- Lapis,” she rasps. “I like that.”

Lapis shrugs. She doesn’t need to say anything else. It’s not friendship, what they have now. More like mutual agreement.

Pearl breaks the silence by saying, “Well! This was… an _eventful_ morning!”

“Heck yeah it was!” Amethyst’s jumping now, and she punches Pearl on the shoulder as she shouts, “That was _wild_! Jasper was all like ‘BAM’ and Lapis was all ‘oh no you didn’t’ and then you were both flying! And then-”

“We were all there, Amethyst,” Garnet says, wringing out the bottom of her tank top. “What’s important is that these two troublemakers made it out alive.”

There’s silence, and Lapis is aware of all three of the Crystal Gem’s eyes on her. On the ground beside her Jasper lets out another shaky cough.

She meets Pearl’s eyes for a second and sees all of the pleading she saw the night before. Even though the resentment hasn’t fully gone away there’s a new warmth that curls inside her and trails out in her words as she says, “Uh. Sorry about that. And I guess I forgive you guys for the whole incident before.”

Jasper grunts, and she adds, “Except you. I know _you_ did it on purpose.”

“Guilty as charged,” she laughs weakly, but shuts up under Garnet’s shaded glare. “Uh. Yeah, I’m sorry. Probably,” Jasper adds under her breath.

Thankfully, Pearl either ignores the last word or didn’t hear it, and claps her hands together happily. “Perfect! Now we just need Jasper and Lapis back to camp, and then this little expedition will be over!”

“Wait.” Garnet tilts her head and stares out into the woods. “Where are Steven and Peridot?”

Amethyst grimaces. “Aw, don’t tell me they ran off! That kid’s always gotta be on some adventure or something, making us _all_ run after him. I say we-”

There’s a roar from farther back in the woods, followed by screams a second later. Lapis leaps to her feet in time to see Peridot and Steven come charging out of the woods yelling at the top of their lungs.

“I told you _not_ to touch it!” Peridot screeches, legs barely managing to carry her over the uneven forest floor. “And what did you do?! You touched it!”

“But it was cute!” Steven whines, short legs working to keep up with Peridot. “I thought it could be my friend!”

“For the last time! _Bears aren’t friendly_!”

Lapis pales. “Oh God. Don’t tell me you actually-”

There’s another roar as Peridot wails, “We did!” Dashing up the hill and back in the direction they came from, she adds, “Get out of here!”

Lapis scrambles back behind the cliff just as a massive grizzly lumbers out of the trees, growling. Pearl shrieks and hides behind Garnet, who yells, “Stay calm! You’re just going to provoke it!”

“Too late!” Amethyst screams, sprinting after Steven. “Every woman for themselves!”

“I’m screwed,” Jasper mumbles, still lying on the floor. “Royally and utterly screwed.”

Garnet groans and covers her face with her hands. Pearl’s cowering behind her, Amethyst, Steven, and Peridot are long gone, and Lapis and Jasper are in no state to run. Cursing, she steps out in front of the bear and raises her arms.

“Easy,” she commands, keeping almost perfectly still. “Easy, boy. Girl. Animal.”

The bear stares, confused, and lets out another growl. Garnet stays where she is, however, and keeps her hands in the air.

Lapis watches in amazement as the grizzly gives them one last annoyed look before trudging back into woods, paws thudding against the ground until it’s swallowed up by the foliage.

Beside Jasper, Pearl lets out a strangled groan and drops to the ground, mumbling something along the lines of, “I’m too young for this.”

Garnet sighs and turns around. “Bears. They’re just grumpy.”

“W-whoa.” Lapis pulls herself out from behind the cliff and lets a little bit of amazement creep onto her face. “That was actually pretty brave.”

“I know,” she says simply, squatting beside Pearl and patting her on the back.

“So… What now?”

Pearl perks up at this and gets to her feet, saying, “We need to get back to camp. If we follow the river we’ll eventually end up at the lake, where we can then take the main trail to get back. The scavenger hunt will be over soon, and I know you three will probably want to change out of your wet clothes.”

Garnet chuckles, helping Jasper to her feet and slinging one of her arms over her shoulder. “Good plan.”

As they head back Lapis can’t help but ask, “What about Steven and the others?”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Pearl says, one arm looped through Garnet’s elbow. “A-after all, they’ll have to get back to the camp sooner or later, right?”

“Right.” There’s something nagging at the back of her mind, but she forces it away, trying to focus on staying awake. “They’re fine.”

* * *

 

They arrive at camp just after lunch. Though they don’t tell Rose about the near-drowning, she’s quick to scold them for leaving the trail, and even quicker to punish Lapis and Jasper for harming each other and Steven. They’re banned from tomorrow’s activities and have to clean up after meals, but after everything that has happened in the week it feels like freedom to Lapis.

Amethyst and Garnet have their go at Jasper when Rose isn't looking, giving her a bruise each for Steven’s broken nose. Jasper accepts their judgment, though grudgingly. She tells them it hurts a lot less than falling into a river and almost drowning.

Lapis doesn’t forgive Jasper for the things she did, but she does come to terms with her. The two manage to build a shaky relational bridge while washing the dishes from the lunch and trying to out trash-talk the other.

As Lapis drops her apron and begins to head to her cabin, Steven calls her over from the edge of the camp.

“Lapis!” he yells, arms waving. “C’mere!”

Sighing, she walks over as fast as she can and says, “What?”

“I remembered! I never told you out special name!”

“Oh yeah.” She forgot about it, honestly. “Do I have to keep guessing?”

“Nah. I think you deserve to know it now.” He spreads his arms and says in an overly-dramatic voice, “Presenting… the Beach Summer Fun Buddies! Whad’ya think?”

Steven’s eyes are bright and eager as he explains that the beach part was for Lapis and the buddies part was for him. “Because you’ve always wanted to see the beach, right?” he asks.

Lapis smiles says, “Yeah. I have.”

“So…” He taps his fingers together nervously and mumbles, “Is it a good name?”

“Oh, Steven.” She ruffles his hair and looks out in the direction of the lake, remembering everything he did for her in the past week. “It’s perfect.”

And for a moment everything is. It’s just the summer sun and the warm breeze and Steven by her side, but for some reason it feels right. Like she finally got the happy ending she always wanted.

It’s only later at the campfire that Lapis realizes there are just fourteen campers present.

* * *

 

“I knew it,” Peridot whispers, trudging alone through the darkened woods. “I freaking _knew_ it.”

**Author's Note:**

> aghhhhhh i kinda want to go somewhere else with this AU but i think ive used up all of my writing energy for like. the next century. lmao anyways hope you enjoyed


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